Best Of: Stop. Breathe. We Cant Keep Working Like This.
b'We were promised, with the internet, a productivity revolution. We were told that we\\u2019d get more done, in less time, with less stress. Instead, we got always-on communication, the dissolution of the boundaries between work and home, the feeling of constantly being behind, lackluster productivity numbers, and, to be fair, reaction GIFs. What went wrong?\\n\\nCal Newport is a computer scientist at Georgetown and the author of books trying to figure that out. At the center of his work is the idea that the technologies billed as offering us more productive, happier, socially rich lives have left us more exhausted, empty and stressed out than ever. He\\u2019s doing something not enough people do: questioning whether this was all worth it.\\n\\nMy critique of Newport\\u2019s work has always been that it focuses too much on the individual: Telling someone whose workplace communicates exclusively via Slack and email to be a \\u201cdigital minimalist\\u201d is like telling someone who lives in a candy store to diet. But his 2021 book, \\u201cA World Without Email,\\u201d is all about systems \\u2014 specifically, the systems that govern how we work. In it, Newport makes a radical argument: We are living through a massive, rolling failure of markets and firms to rethink work for the digital age. But that can change. We can change it.\\n\\nThis conversation with Newport was originally recorded in March of 2021, but it\'s just as relevant today as ever.\\n\\nRecommendations: \\n\\n"Technics and Civilization" by Lewis Mumford\\n\\n"Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change" by Neil Postman\\n\\n\\u201cA Continuous Shape\\u201d (video)\\n\\n"Andrew Henry\'s Meadow" by Doris Burn\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\n\\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d is produced by Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rog\\xe9 Karma; fact-checking by Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Our executive producer is Irene Noguchi. Special thanks to Kristin Lin.'